The Passage of Time
by HQD607
Summary: A bounty hunter travels to the Koronus Expanse, fleeing vengeful victims and employers alike. Among his pursuers is an Arbites enforcer, hell-bent on delivering the Emperor's justice to her target.


++++++ Leger Criminalis: "Century" ++++++

Date: [REDACTED]

Report by: Enforcer Justice Vericum, AADCJ77153

Location: Precinct CJ Secure Office, Hive Hestus, Sigurd IV, Josian Reach, Calixis Sector, Segmentum Obscuris.

Thought for the Day: An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

Subject: "Century"

Designation: Criminalis Minoris

Threat level: Traitorus Minoris

Crimes: Desertion, theft, arson, hired murder without sanction, smuggling, piracy, sabotage, blasphemy.

Commence report:

My first experience with the criminal known as "Century," more commonly referred to as "Cent," was via word of mouth. Some 13 Terran years past, my then-colleague, the late Enforcer Tychus Holy (designation AADCJ62922), was assigned to his case and, as was often true, discussed his target on numerous occasions in the precinct-fortress. Holy was assigned to the case because (as you may have heard) he had an Emperor-given gift for hunting down deserters, runaways, mutants, and the like and delivering swift justice. He took great joy in his work, and rightfully so. Few enforcers in the history of precinct CJ have brought the Emperor's Mercy to so many deserving of it.

Cent (I confess I have become used to the more common, shortened version of the subject's name, purely for expedience in my duties; Emperor forgive me) first came to the attention of the arbites on Sigurd IV when a Servant-class cargo vessel, the _Onemneus_ (which it was later found he arrived upon, as a stowaway), was caught smuggling roughly 30,000 liters of depleted deuterium gas compressed into 11, 8-foot cylinders onto Pride Orbital Station. Subject cargo was drawn from the gas giant Sekmet and purchased at Guytoga. Upon discovery of the illegal stowage, the ship was impounded, its crew and passengers arrested, and its cargo confiscated. Yet, despite extensive interrogation, none of the crew or passengers of the _Onemneus_ demonstrated even the barest hint of knowledge of its hidden cargo. The local merchant conglomerate was livid and yet no explanation could be found. So the population of the ship was assigned to a penal legion in its entirety, to ensure the Emperor's justice.

The same day that the _Onemneus_ docked at the station, a docking official and two workers (later found to be undeserving of these honorable positions) were murdered. Notably, bolt rounds were used in the act, indicating a degree of preparation by the killer and access to somewhat specialized equipment. The investigation of the two incidents took Holy less than 48 hours, but by then the nameless murderer had vanished. However the deaths were assumed to be connected to the smuggling incident, prompting an extensive exploration into the connections of the docking official and workers, which revealed that they affiliated with a local black market group, _The Lokite_, operated by underhive gangers of Hive Hestus. The deaths were eventually attributed to an intra-system cartel fallout, and Agent Holy feared it likely that our subsequent, righteous investigation and culling of _The Lokite_ and its agents was desired, and perhaps even instigated, by whatever Emperor-forsaken cartel network exists on Guytoga—a distasteful thought, to be sure. Pride Station was thoroughly cleansed of corruption by an arbites taskforce and its customs protections were greatly tightened, but the murderer was never identified. Based on what we now know of Cent, it is probable that he was engaged by someone in the cartel network of Guytoga to ensure the incriminating cargo planted aboard the _Onemneus_ reached Pride Orbital Station, sparking an investigation into _The Lokite_ with the deaths of the aforementioned agents. It is likely that he was aided in stowing away aboard the _Onemneus_. This was not lost on Holy.

Agent Holy traveled to Guytoga, where he could find nothing at all on the loading process for the _Onemneus_. Every dock worker involved had been transferred, or simply vanished, and most of the paperwork for the vessel was conspicuously missing. This was no less than he expected, given his assumptions about the local cartel branch's aims. However he connected with multiple arbites precincts on-world and looked into local murders. He noted that one seemingly random murder did involve bolt weapons, and bolt shells were found at the scene of a shootout in the underhive of Hive Volumen. After examining the evidence in as much detail as he could, he returned to Sigurd IV, armed with new information and resolve.

Holy had obtained a copy of the suspect's boot print, but this was not enough to track him in Hive Hestus. The trail went cold for several months, during which time Holy conducted further investigations into the remains of _The Lokite_, as well as other criminal groups in Hive Hestus. Little progress was made at first, but he did manage to intercept a suspicious, errant shipment headed to the underhive. It was a high-priority crate following an unusual route, and upon inspection, it was found to contain bolt shells. It is likely you may have heard of the incident that followed, as it is now of some fame in the subsector. Instead of confiscating the shipment, Holy returned it to its scheduled route and tracked it. It was thus that the warehouse headquarters of the Sons of Strife, the most notorious gang in Hive Hestus, was identified. It seemed such an easy thing, finding a place that had been sought for decades without success, and those without the full story idolized Holy's apparent wit and genius. Many are unaware of the information that went into his actions, as well as the fieldwork behind his calculated risk.

Our precinct mobilized multiple arbites squads, as well as stormtroopers from the PDF, and raided the warehouse HQ. Those in the warehouse were caught entirely by surprise and most were captured, with only five killed in the storming of the building and no Imperial casualties, praise be to Him on Earth. The information gained from interrogating the high-up members of the Sons of Strife captured in the strike led to one of the greatest purges in Hive Hestus's history, and Holy was highly commended for his efforts, receiving the Judicial Aquila in recognition of his service to the Emperor. He wore it on his vest with pride from that day on.

The bolt shells were found still in the warehouse, in their shipping crate. One of the gangers revealed that the shells were to be picked up by a bounty hunter known as Cent, who the Sons had been using as a go-between with gangs in Hives Percival and Lor. At last, Holy had a name for his target. But his joy was short-lived. He set up a trap at the warehouse in case the hunter returned for his supplies, but Cent never showed up to claim them. The subsequent raids and arrests put Hive Hestus and indeed most of Sigurd IV in an uproar of action both legal and otherwise, and despite his best efforts, Holy was unable to find any trace of Cent. It is assumed he made his way off-planet, and nothing was heard of him for the next two years.

Having long since set aside Cent's case, Agent Holy was surprised and delighted to receive a transmission from an Imperial Navy adjunct about his long-forgotten target. A series of boot prints matching the copy in Holy's database file on the subject had been identified on a pirate vessel captured on the edge of the Drusus Marches. Holy immediately reopened the case and made his way to the impounded ship, where he confirmed the prints in a crusted spray of blood on the pirate raider's aft engine deck behind a stack of thermal towers. The blood was old and partially degraded, but the prints remained clear and the scene seemed to confirm the identity of their maker. To Holy's eye, the death that had generated the blood occurred a matter of hours or days before the raider was spotted and captured. Damage in the engine room pointed to sabotage (the only reason for any more-than-cursory examination of the room, and hence the discovery of the hidden blood spray) and Holy immediately connected the scene to Cent's tactics during the _Onemneus_ incident. No other evidence of the supposed hired gun was found aboard the ship, leading Holy to believe he had escaped shortly before the conflict. The only reasonable location to do so would have been the agri settlement on the fourth moon of the planetoid _Pallus II_ on the Eastern edge of the subsector.

Sure enough, Holy was able to confirm that an escape pod, unregistered in the pirate vessel's cogitator records, had landed on the outskirts of the settlement twelve days earlier. Locals described the man who had emerged to be of moderate height with a large build and a shaved head. He claimed to have escaped a pilgrim ship that was attacked by pirates, and the locals suggested that he likely departed on a Chartist ship to the Lo system a week after arriving. According to workers at the loading dock, a man fitting the description given by the locals boarded five days prior to Holy's arrival and carried with him a bolt pistol and what looked to be a sword of some sort. He wore a large coat over his light carapace armor and combat boots. The next cargo vessel to leave the planet would not arrive for over a month, and would not be headed to Lo, but Holy managed to commandeer, in the name of the Emperor, a small, Warp-capable vessel from the moon's (uncooperative, I might note) local governor, along with his personal pilot, and pursued his quarry to the Lo system.

Realizing that Cent would be impossible to find if he lost him for even a day in the hives of Lo, Holy pushed the governor's vessel and pilot to their limits and successfully arrived only a few hours after the shuttle from _Pallus Moon_. While the shuttle's grain was unloaded, he asked dockworkers and crewmen about the man that had been described to him and was told that the reticent character did indeed arrive on the shuttle, after which he headed North along the border of the hive. One of the dockworkers suggested that he might be headed for the hab district not far from the port, where he might find a room for a night or two, and Holy, having nothing else to go on, went the same way.

Making his way from tavern to hostel, inn to boardinghouse, Holy checked with each reception staff if any cloaked, bald men in combat boots of Cent's stature had checked in that afternoon. His twelfth stop yielded results—the barman at a run-down hostel described a large man in a longcoat who had requested and paid for a room but had immediately left after purchasing it. He had seen a long weapon at the man's hip. Holy now had his chance. He just needed to wait for Cent to return.

Three hours later, Holy's faith had begun to waver (Emperor forgive me for besmirching his name). It was possible his target had given him the slip, or that Holy had missed him, or, worse still, that he had the wrong man entirely. But my colleague's patience yielded his greatest find to date: a sight of his target. The man who turned out of the alleyway across the street from Holy was near bald, close to six feet in height, and definitely over 200 pounds. His coat reached just below his knees and beneath it, Holy could make out Enforcer light carapace armor and a bladed weapon at his left hip. That was all he reported from that first glimpse—for when the man turned the corner and locked eyes with Holy, he froze, then turned back into the alley and ran.

This began a hunt which lasted some weeks. Holy pursued Cent but lost him in the crowds of the nearby merchant district. He was able to use pict capture records from the local branch of the arbites to find his target, now that he knew who to look for and where, but as soon as he had tracked him across the hive to an abandoned warehouse, Cent was on the move again. Holy followed a trail into the lower levels, caught sight of his quarry again, and once more gave chase, but again was eluded, this time in the darkness of the underhive. Returning to the upper levels, Holy used the arbites to put out feelers. He kept an eye on all the major entrances to the underhive via their pict recorder network and used his Judicial Aquila to request additional patrols. Yet he found nothing until he was alerted to a sighting of a man matching Cent's description boarding a maglev headed for another hive. The fugitive had managed to slip past the cordon and was only spotted by coincidence.

This game of lynx-and-rat continued across multiple hives on Lo. If you wish to read a full recounting, I suggest Agent Holy's report marked [REDACTED] from the Sigurd IV Precinct CJ records. If not, suffice it to say that Holy's work was tireless and frustrating, with my colleague coming very near to catching his target on multiple occasions. Cent managed to elude capture repeatedly, always seemingly informed of or ready for Holy's impending encroachment. To his final day, I do not believe Agent Holy knew how it was that Cent recognized him as a threat on that first evening on Lo. However, it seemed the criminal was blessed with similar foresight repeatedly across the near month that Holy pursued him. Every time Holy felt sure he had his prey pinned, Cent was half a step ahead, barely able to escape in time.

Eventually, Cent found a more permanent, if costly, method of disappearing. After leaving a false trail, he boarded a stiletto frigate belonging to Lord Larin Astala, the head of Gryphon House on Lo. The frigate was headed all the way to Fedrid, on the Western tip of the Markayn Marches. Knowing what I now know of Cent, I suspect this was a great sacrifice to him. This voyage should have given Holy plenty of time to find the actual trail and send a message to Lord Astala's personal astropath. Unfortunately, Lord Astala was not on a sanctioned visit to a pleasure world, as was recorded with authorities. Fedrid is a frontier world of untamed jungles and carnivore-infested forests and I'm sure I would not dare to speculate on the intentions of Lord Astala in visiting such a hazardous planet so far away from his home, unregistered with Imperial Authorities, with a ship full of traps, cages, and hired guns.

Regardless, Agent Holy was able to identify Cent's false trail within an hour but took longer to develop a list of possible alternatives. When he did hear of Lord Astala's departure, he put in an order for a transmission be sent, informing the lord of Gryphon House that a dangerous criminal was aboard his ship and he was being requested to dock at the nearest Imperial port for his own safety. However, it took a long time for Holy's transmission to become a priority to the astropathic choir of Lo, and still longer for the choir to realize that the message being sent was not being received. This confirmed, in Holy's mind, that Cent was aboard Lord Astala's ship, but it was some time before the choir was able to locate the stiletto frigate, and every attempt to contact its astropath resulted in some form of disturbance—a suspicious circumstance, at least to Holy's mind. With good intuition and no way to contact Lord Astala, Holy used what remained of his requisitional capacity to obtain a vessel to take him spinward while he waited for news.

As his vessel passed through the Warp near Sepheris Secundus, Holy finally received word from the choir on Lo. Lord Astala had made contact, having entered orbit above Fedrid. His lordship claims to have misfiled his paperwork, mistaking his attendance to the funeral of a six-times-removed relative on Fedrid for his vacation trip to Askelphion Secundus. One wonders how Lord Astala could have mixed up a short-notice funeral date with a long-planned retreat, but I am quite sure this was merely an honest mistake on his lordship's part. How commendable of him to attend the funerary proceedings of such a distant cousin—perhaps the cages and traps were customary gifts.

In any case, Lord Astala informed the arbites on Lo that the man whose file was sent to him was not among his hired crew, but that one man had been reported missing after the first visit to the planet. Agent Holy, upon arrival, was directed to the settlement Lord Astala had visited that day. He was not granted an audience with his lordship. However Holy found a trail leading into the jungles of Fedrid, and he followed it alone, armed with his jet-black long las, _Peace_. His last transmission is recorded in the file [REDACTED].

After two weeks of silence, I began to fear for Agent Holy. After two months, I confess I lost hope. Two and a half years later, a report reached me of a spree of murders on Merov committed with bolt pistol and power sword by an armored bounty hunter bearing a black hunting rifle, confirming what I had long suspected—after nearly three months of running, Cent killed Enforcer Tychus Holy.

Upon receiving my commission as Enforcer, I requested that Holy's assignment be passed to me and was granted the honor of finishing what he started. I have dedicated the last eight years to the pursuit of this blight upon the Imperium, in the name of the Emperor and in the name of Tychus Holy. Cent has slid from planet to planet, year after year, seemingly always heading rimward unless cornered, as he was by Agent Holy. I have evidence that he has committed crimes on Merov, Iocanthus, Scintilla, Piety, Archaos, Baraspine, at least two worlds of the Zel system, Pellucida IX, Laskin, and Dusk. He has consorted with the Pale-Faced Traders, the Seventeen Needles, the Adrantis Reavers, crimelord Aaron Wells, the Cult of the Mechanicus Immortal, known pirate Leon Darkfist, Sted Ka Tour's mercenaries, the Aged, the Lasparan Cartel, Mordin Harris's gang, and the lucid twins, and I have evidence that suggests his cooperation with over a dozen other criminal and pirate groups and cartels. For full details, please see my reports [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REDACTED].

I have also done extensive research into who Cent is and where he came from. He appears by now to be between the ages of 40 and 50, and based on his propensity to head Rimward and the relative time scale, I believe it very likely that he was born in the Hazeroth or Josian Reach subsectors, though the Ixaniad Sector is also a relevant consideration. He has demonstrated a clear preference for operating on hive worlds, leading me to believe he originated from one; and while his habit of working aboard voidships indicates that it is possible that he was born shipboard, I do not believe his propensity for void travel to be more meaningful than his preferred zone of operation. Many fugitives travel, and many stick to hive worlds as the easiest places to disappear. Cent, however, has shown a willingness to visit other classifications of planet if he thinks these might improve his odds of survival (or if the price is right). His preference for hive worlds seems to be just that, a preference, or reflex, not desperation.

The only source I have had contact with who has worked directly with Cent, Dariel Vos (a smuggler now on the penal planet of Sheol XVII), describes him as a taciturn man, unfriendly and distrustful by nature. This lends credence to my belief that he is hiveborn. Therefore, I have developed a list of likely planets of origin within the Hazeroth and Josian Reach subsectors: Samson IV; Guytoga; Clove; Gunpoint; Canopus; Fenksworld; Hredrin; and my own Sigurd IV. Since all of these worlds have significant Imperial draft rates and since statistically the vast majority of hiveborn criminals are draft-dodgers, I find it highly probable that Cent's first major crime against the Imperium was desertion. I have taken the liberty of adding it to the list of his delinquencies.

Using pict-records discovered by Agent Holy, I have been able to confirm some of Cent's operations prior to our initial contact with him. The pict-records from the _Onemneus_ incident on Guytoga were clearly destroyed, but I have found other evidence of his presence on Samson IV, Gunpoint, and, now nearly 20 years ago, Kudrun. Smuggling, piracy, and unauthorized murder are his most heavily-repeated offenses, and theft, arson, and sabotage are not uncommon. His greatest transgression, however, greater even than murdering an Imperial Enforcer, is the theft and unsanctioned usage of the longrifle _Peace_, the only possession Agent Holy prized above his Judicial Aquila. It is a holy weapon, its barrel flanked by cherubim and its body blessed by the hand of Cardinal Richarde Leyveri of Reshia. To bear it unsanctioned is to commit blasphemy against his holiness the Cardinal, against mankind, and against the Emperor. It is also a disrespect to Agent Holy himself, one which I have no intention of brooking. I intend to see this holy weapon returned to Imperial hands and purified, or if it is irredeemable, destroyed.

Cent has been more cautious since his encounter with Agent Holy. He leaves fewer trails, changes his appearance and weapons more frequently, and rarely stays in the same place for long. However, I am not the only one hunting him. He has made many enemies during his varied and tumultuous career of destruction. A conflict with the assassin's guild on Archaos resulted in his flight to Baraspine, where he dueled his pursuer to her death. At one point I believe he was experimented on by a heretek on one of the smuggling vessels he was employed by. I have it on good authority that today he is pursued by Clovian mercenary groups; the remains of the Sons of Strife; the Merov Regulars and the Merov Irregulars; the merchant guild of Archaos; an entire Laskin hive gang; and even some of the groups he worked with, including the Seventeen Needles, the Aged, the Lasparan Cartel, and the lucid twins. I am certain that this is not an exhaustive list of Cent's foes. Such a man cannot have long left to live.

It is late. I must needs prepare myself for the journey ahead. Tomorrow, Emperor willing, I leave for the Koronus Sector. A woman was reported killed on Footfall by a beautiful, jet-black long las wielded by a cloaked mercenary. This is the first report of _Peace's_ existence in several years, as Cent has made a point of keeping it hidden now that it is known to be in his possession. I do not doubt that his use of it now is a statement, either a declaration that he is beyond the reach of the Calixis authorities or a challenge to any who would dare find him in the vastness of the Koronus Expanse. In either case, he is a fool, for there is no beneficent savior, no crevice, no end of the universe that will hide him from my wrath.

I write to you, Inquisitor, to requisition aid. I write to you because, although Cent takes care never to dabble in the deepest heresy, or corruption, or alien technology; while he is no heretek or black apostle or fallen priest; and though his transgressions may not directly fall under the banner of any exact arm of the Inquisition or Adepta; his willingness to work for or against anyone and anything represents a great danger to the Imperium at large, greater than the Adeptus Arbites is equipped to handle at such a distance. Any fugitive from justice who has survived in freedom for so long sets a dangerous example which ought not to be allowed. Most of all, Tychus Holy, Emperor guard his rest, deserves righteous vengeance. I intend to be the one to give it to him, long before any of Cent's other pursuers catch up to him, and I hope to have your help in this matter. But I shall go, in the name of the Emperor and in the name of Tychus Holy, one way or the other.

I remain:

His obedient servant,

-Enforcer Justice Ayesha Vericum

:End Report


End file.
